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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27615592">electric love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenlikeastitch/pseuds/brokenlikeastitch'>brokenlikeastitch</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Men's Hockey RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bisexual Mitch Marner, M/M, auston trying to get his shit together, this is very soft, tiktok as a plot device</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:07:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,762</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27615592</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenlikeastitch/pseuds/brokenlikeastitch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>mitch followed him on tiktok and that was only the start<br/>-<br/>all i need is to be struck by your electric love</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mitch Marner/Auston Matthews</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>136</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. can't let you go now that i got it</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this is me fixing mitch's biggest flaw, using apple music over spotify :)</p>
<p>(very little editing here)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It all started when Mitch found out Auston had a TikTok account. He barged into Auston’s apartment, unannounced as usual, and gasped when he saw Auston, “Bro, you totally didn’t tell me you had an account, what the fuck.”</p><p>He sounded far too betrayed for what the situation warranted, Auston thought. After a few seconds of blinking, trying to come up with an answer, he finally blurted, “It’s a secret.”</p><p>“Yeah from hockey fans and like the media and toxic Leafs Nation. But not from me, we’re bros!” Mitch yelled back as he moved to the kitchen.</p><p>“I just got it like a week ago,” Auston defended, unsure why Mitch was making such a huge deal out of it.</p><p>“How many followers do you have?”</p><p>“Just my sisters.”</p><p>After a loud clang in the kitchen, Mitch called back, “Give me your username so I can follow you.”</p><p>“No. Hell no,” Auston told him, locking his phone.</p><p>He could practically picture Mitch waving him away, “Whatever, I follow Bre, I’ll just go through the list of people she follows until I find you.”</p><p>“You follow Bre?” Auston asked, incredulously.</p><p>“Duh, me and your sisters are totally tight.”</p><p>Auston felt like his brain was working in overtime as he tried to keep up with Mitch who finished whatever he’d been doing in the kitchen and dropped down on the couch next to him, sandwich in hand. After staring at a few seconds, waiting on Mitch to elaborate on knowing his sisters.</p><p>When he didn’t, Auston asked, “Dude, what do you mean you’re tight?”</p><p>“I mean we talk on the phone sometimes and they’re on my close friends story list on Instagram.”</p><p>Eyebrows furrowed, Auston asked, “Wait, since when do you talk on the phone?”</p><p>“I do sometimes. I am an adult, after all.”</p><p>“Barely,” Auston muttered before opening his phone back up to start scrolling again.</p><p>Mitch moved closer, watching over Auston’s shoulder, and he laughed, “Are you on straight TikTok, dude?”</p><p>“I don’t know what that means, Marns?”</p><p>“Like, Charli D’amelio or some shit.”</p><p>“Is that the Dunkin Donuts girl?”</p><p>Mitch snorted, “Yeah, that’s her. And I’m not shaming you.”</p><p>Auston raised his eyebrows, “That’s not the vibe I’m getting from your tone right now.”</p><p>“Okay, I’m shaming you a little, straight TikTok is problematic as hell.”</p><p>“Well what do you see?” Auston asked defensively.</p><p>“Thirst traps honestly. There are some really pretty guys on there, dude. I can send you some if you want to curate your For You Page with higher quality content.” Auston hummed noncommittally and Mitch continued, “Of course, that would mean you’d have to let me follow you.”</p><p>“Not a chance.”</p><p>Mitch held his hands up, “Whatever you say, dude. I’ll figure it out anyway, don’t worry.”</p><p>-</p><p>And he did, not even 48 hours later, a lk93 account with a picture of Zeus as the profile picture followed him. Auston sighed as he got a DM from the account.</p><p>
  <em>Found you. You used your gamer tag? Pretty obvious bro</em>
</p><p>Auston rolled his eyes. He wasn’t really upset about it, but he did like having things to hold over Mitch’s head. After a few seconds, he managed a response.</p><p>
  <em>I’ll block you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You won’t</em>
</p><p>Unfortunately, he was right, in No World would Auston ever intentionally reject Mitch’s attention. A few seconds later he got another message.</p><p>
  <em>But for real bro get ready for me to save you</em>
</p><p>Auston rolled his eyes, thumbs hovering over the keyboard as he tried to think of a response.</p><p>
  <em>Don’t spam me</em>
</p><p>
  <em>No promises</em>
</p><p>-</p><p>Mitch kept it relatively tame, only sending 20 at a time or so, and Auston even sent a few in response. A few of them were thirst traps, like he promised, but there were also some that fit Mitch’s fucking weird sense of humor so well.</p><p>He never brought it up again until Bre did one night on FaceTime. Laying back on his couch, he wasn’t expecting the, “So, you’ve started sending me TikToks, since when do you do more than like anything on that app?” she threw at him</p><p>Cheeks warming, Auston shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess I just found some I thought you’d like.”</p><p>“Mhmm,” she teased, “does it maybe have something to do with one Mitch Marner. He told me he found your account.”</p><p>“No,” he defended.</p><p>Bre grinned knowingly, “He sends me TikToks all the time, so I know he sends them to you.”</p><p>Auston felt a weird feeling in his chest, not a huge fan of the fact Mitch wasn’t exclusively spamming him. Bre must’ve seen the look on his face and dropped the subject, letting them move onto her school. It wasn’t till the end that she brought it up again, “Don’t worry, Aus, he only sends me like one at a time.”</p><p>While it was reassuring, it didn’t stop him from scrolling through the people Mitch follows. He was oddly comforted to know that the only people Auston knew in that list were his sisters and Chucky’s sister. That is until Mitch dropped something in the team group chat the next day.</p><p>
  <em>Yo follow me on tiktok lk93</em>
</p><p>Willy was the first to respond.</p><p>
  <em>Omw but dude that’s so obvious</em>
</p><p>Auston could practically feel Mitch’s eye roll.</p><p>
  <em>Yeah well no one’s found me yet so eat shit bro</em>
</p><p>And in the following days, Auston watched Mitch’s followed count rise as guys on the team sent their incognito accounts. It did hurt the tiniest bit, and the last thing Auston wanted to do was introspection to figure out why it hurt.</p><p>-</p><p>Auston knew he had a reputation for being the meme king on the roster, no one had ever let him forget the Harambe sweater, but he thought that Mitch was unfairly overlooked. The dude quoted Vines and YouTube videos regularly, and Auston would never live down his constant replaying of that stupid Auston Matthews song.</p><p> That all to say, it was no shock when Mitch starting quoting TikToks, and much to Auston’s surprise, he normally understood the reference. One afternoon Mitch was laying on the couch, scrolling through Instagram, when Auston tripped over his shoes laying haphazardly in the middle of the room.</p><p>“Fuck’s sake, Marns, shoes by the door, I’m gonna break my neck.”</p><p>“Okay, my apologies, Miss Girl.”</p><p>When he didn’t move to get up and move the shoes, Auston rolled his eyes and did it himself.</p><p>Another time in Mitch’s apartment, Auston was digging through his pantry looking for popcorn, and when he couldn’t find any, yelled over his shoulder, “Marns, no popcorn?”</p><p>“No, ate the last bag last night.”</p><p>Auston huffed, “How are we supposed to have movie night without popcorn?”</p><p>“Get another snack, bro. My cabinet is packed.”</p><p>“But it’s for a movie, we have to have popcorn.”</p><p>“Bro, I have chips, that’s close enough.”</p><p>“It’s not, they’re totally different.”</p><p>Mitch walked into the kitchen, “Ladies, if he’s bad at video games despite playing them all the time, has a God awful receding hairline at 23, and bitches about popcorn instead of just eating the available, free chips, it’s not your man. It’s Auston Matthews.”</p><p>Auston rolled his eyes, “Fuck off, Marns. I’m not the one unprepared for movie night.”</p><p>The third time was at 3 a.m. Both boys were in the kitchen, drinking water after getting caught up playing COD together for hours. Mitch had been quiet all night and Auston felt uneasy.</p><p>“So, is something wrong?” he finally asked, cautiously.</p><p>“Not really. I’m just. Trying to hype myself up, I guess.”</p><p>“For um, for what?”</p><p>Mitch sighed, “I know that I’ve made it pretty obvious, like I haven’t hidden it or anything, but I’ve also never said it out loud and I kinda want to.”</p><p>“Say what?” Auston answered, cracking his knuckles nervously.</p><p>“I’m bi.”</p><p>Auston’s reached for Mitch instinctively, who clearly wasn’t expecting it, and accidentally knocked the water glass out of Mitch’s hand.</p><p>It hit the ground and shattered everywhere, and Mitch gasped, jumping away instinctively as water soaked the bottom of his sweatpants.</p><p>“I’m so sorry,” Auston gushed.</p><p>“All good, man,” Mitch responded, staying frozen in place, “but, do you mind like getting a broom? You have socks on at least and I don’t want to cut my feet.”</p><p>“Right,” his words launched Auston into motion, “um, also, like, thanks for trusting me, Marns. I promise this changes nothing, yeah?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he responded, trying to sound casual but Auston heard the note of relief in his voice.</p><p>“Did you think I’d react badly?” Auston asked, a little hurt.</p><p>Mitch shrugged, “I mean, I don’t know. I’ve seen it happen. Like, it eez what it eez.”</p><p>Auston snorted at the reference, “Right. Well, I’d kill anyone who treated you poorly about it, yeah?”</p><p>“Love you, bro,” Mitch told him, and Auston could practically hear the grin.</p><p>The fourth, and most notable time, Mitch was back laying on the couch when Auston got home. He froze in the entranceway and sighed, “Mitchy, I didn’t give you a key so you could come lay on my couch when I’m not home.”</p><p>“That’s just part of the package,” Mitch told him seriously, sitting up to look at him.</p><p>Auston smiled sheepishly as Mitch took in the fast food bag in his hand, “I know it’s not exactly diet plan.”</p><p>Waving his concerns away, Mitch reassured, “I’ll never snitch on you, daddy.”</p><p>Jaw dropping, Auston gawked at Mitch. His brain emptied as he tried to come up with something, <em>anything</em>, to say in response. Mitch, as usual, seemed unphased and went back to whatever he’d been doing on his phone before Auston came in.</p><p>Oh, Auston thought to himself, maybe deep introspection on his complicated feelings wasn’t needed.</p><p>-</p><p>So finally, after years of friendship, Auston was forced to come to terms with his more than friendly feelings toward his teammate. Mitch never said it again, they never talked about it either, they just went about normal life.</p><p>And then the TikToks Mitch sent switched from thirst traps to happy couples. Which like, rude Mitchell, way to rub in how fucking happy he was with his girlfriend compared to how single Auston was. One night, when he was drunk and feeling the loneliest he’d felt in a while, Auston actually responded.</p><p>
  <em>We get it bro. you’re happily in love with your girlfriend.</em>
</p><p>It only took a few minutes for Mitch to respond. Auston thought about ignoring it pettily, but in the end, curiosity won out, and when he read Mitch’s message, he almost choked.</p><p>
  <em>Nah bro, me and steph broke up</em>
</p><p>Auston wasn’t sure how to answer him, so he didn’t. He put his phone down, rolled over onto his stomach, and screamed into his pillow.</p><p>The next morning was when he got the first of the electric love trend. Auston knew the song, but the trend was something he’d never seen before.</p><p>“Um, what?” he asked the empty room as he read the caption.</p><p>
  <em>I tried the trend where you kiss ur guy bestfriend</em>
</p><p>He was in shock as he watched the guy push her away before pulling the girl back to kiss her as the chorus started. It kept playing and he kept watching, seemingly unable to stop. He liked it on reflex, he liked every TikTok Mitch sent him so that he could send some he knew Mitch would like too.</p><p>The unfortunate downside to that was the electric love trend was suddenly all over his For You Page. Not only that, Mitch kept sending them, and Auston was losing his mind. Was it like a message or did Mitch just really like the trend?</p><p>Finally, one day out of sheer desperation, he texted Willy.</p><p>
  <em>Dude, what kind of tiktoks does mitch send you?</em>
</p><p>Willy didn’t respond for a few hours, but when he did, Auston’s stomach erupted into butterflies.</p><p>
  <em>Mostly recipe ones, he wants to start having dinner once a week</em>
</p><p>Auston both felt better and conflicted about Willy’s answer, he wasn’t sending romantic videos but he was trying to set up something that sounded like a date night.</p><p>
  <em>Weekly date with marns huh?</em>
</p><p>So he was fishing, sue him.</p><p>
  <em>Nah, he wants to learn how to cook. Says it’s the only thing stopping him from being husband material.</em>
</p><p>Fondness gripped Auston’s heart, and he set his phone down to just stare at the fucking ceiling. Before he could respond to Willy, he got another text.</p><p>
  <em>You got any clue why he’s suddenly so interested in marriage when he is recently coming out of a breakup?</em>
</p><p>Auston wasn’t sure, and he didn’t want to get his hopes too far up, but he figured maybe if he sent it out the universe, Willy could unintentionally help him manifest it.</p><p>
  <em>Maybe</em>
</p><p>-</p><p><br/>
“Bre,” Auston groaned, “I can’t even listen to the song anymore.”</p><p>“Why not?” she asked, amused, and Auston could hear her moving around whatever room she was in.</p><p>“He keeps sending the damn TikToks. At this point I’m being conditioned to think about kissing Mitch every time the song starts.”</p><p>“So just do it.”</p><p>“I can’t just…” he trailed off, “that-“</p><p>“Why not?” she asked again, cutting him off.</p><p>Auston was quiet for a few seconds before whispering back, “Why not.”</p><p>-</p><p>It all came to a head when they were sitting in the car after practice, waiting on it to heat up a bit. Mitch drove that day and he dragged through his post-practice routine. Auston sat in the locker room, scrolling through TikTok while he waited, and by the time the two of them made it out of the building, most of their team was gone.</p><p>“Jesus, Marns, what took so long, parking lot is empty.”</p><p>“I don’t know, distracted I guess.”</p><p>Auston tried to catch his eye, starting to get concerned, but Mitch kept refusing to look at him. Nudging his shoulder, Auston asked, “Dude, everything okay?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he paused, kicking at the ground, “I’m good. We hanging out this afternoon?”</p><p>“Planning on it. Are you hurt,” Auston felt sick, “do you feel sick, mono again?”</p><p>Mitch snorted, “Not mono dude, I’m just thinking.”</p><p>When they got in the car, Auston reached for the aux, hoping to take advantage of Mitch’s distracted state, but Mitch slapped his hand away. Pouting, Auston complained, “You got it on the way here.”</p><p>“Driver picks the music, you know the rules, Matts.”</p><p>After scrolling through his Spotify for a few seconds, the beginning chord of Electric Love started. Auston froze, head whipping over to stare at Mitch who was very dutifully looking away from him. Weird feeling in his chest, Auston whispered, “Marns.”</p><p>He hummed, still looking away, and when he answered, his voice was unsteady, “Yeah?”</p><p>“Mitchy, what are you doing?”</p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p>“Are you sure?”</p><p>“Mhmm.”</p><p>The chorus started to build and Auston’s hands started to sweat. He could hear Bre’s voice echoing in his head, <em>why not</em>.</p><p>“Marns,” he said gently. Mitch didn’t answer, so he reached across the console to catch the hand reaching for the gearshift, “Mitchy, look at me.”</p><p>When he finally did, the look on his face was unreadable and Auston could see the apprehension in his eyes. It hit that point in the song, Auston decided fuck it, and kissed him.</p><p>For a few mortifying seconds, Mitch stayed frozen and right as Auston got ready to pull away, he brought a hand up to Auston’s jaw and started kissing back, immediately wiping all of Auston’s nervousness away.</p><p>The kiss only went on for a few more seconds before Mitch pulled away, staying close enough for their noses to brush. Auston smiled subconsciously and brought his fingers to his lips with a small smile. Mitch’s thumb stroked gently over Auston’s cheekbone and he whispered, “So, you got my hint.”</p><p>Auston snorted, “Safe to say, yeah. You couldn’t have just, I don’t know, told me?”</p><p>“Bud, before right now, I didn’t even know you weren’t straight.”</p><p>“I didn’t hide it,” Auston defended.</p><p>“Bro, I came out to you, you could’ve told me that night.”</p><p>Auston shook his head, “I didn’t want to steal your moment. And then I broke the glass.”</p><p>“Smooth as fuck by the way.”</p><p>Huffing out a laugh, Auston sat back in his seat, “Yeah, not my finest moment, but at least I actually acted instead of sending the ‘kissing my best friend’ trend repeatedly.”</p><p>“It’s like modern hieroglyphics. I send videos with no explanation and you figure out what I mean.”</p><p>Auston tried to follow his logic before realizing, “Dude, you’re so learning how to cook to impress me.”</p><p>Mitch’s cheeks went red and he sputtered, “Not true, I’m bettering myself. And how the fuck did you even know that anyway?”</p><p>“Willy told me.”</p><p>“What the fuck, that traitor.”</p><p>“I asked,” Auston admitted, “I had to make sure I was the only person getting romantic TikToks from you.”</p><p>Mitch smirked, “You were so jealous. Matts, you’re the only boy I spam.”</p><p>And it really shouldn’t have made Auston feel better but it did. He relaxed into the seat, “Yeah whatever, let’s get lunch and go watch a movie.”</p><p>“You don’t want me to cook?” Mitch pouted, putting the car into reverse.</p><p>“Not yet, give you a few more weeks to practice, then we’ll try it out.”</p><p>Mitch glanced over at a stoplight, “You asking me on a date?”</p><p>“Maybe. That a yes?”</p><p>“It’s a yes,” Mitch told him, bumping elbows with him on the console.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. lightning in a bottle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>bisexual disaster mitch through it all</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hi, back at it with a requested mitch pov!! :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Mitch broke up with Steph, it had been a long time coming. Not to say that it had been an easy decision; he had to seriously hype himself up for it, and he agonized over it for weeks. Eventually, he got up the bravery, and it wasn’t actually as bad as he thought it would be because she’d noticed he wasn’t in it anymore, and she was ready to get out too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But there was something in him that still felt gross. He hadn’t, but Mitch had the feeling that he’d somehow cheated on her. Dylan and Connor reassured him that wasn’t the case, that feelings change sometimes, and he was doing the right thing by not leading her on. It did help, but he was still scared to tell anyone on the team, especially those with girlfriends who were friends with Steph.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The </span>
  <em>
    <span>only</span>
  </em>
  <span> problem with the plan to not tell the team was that Mitch got most of his encouragement and support from Auston’s sisters. They were the only girls he knew not close to Steph that could give him advice for how to let her down in a way that could minimize the hurt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It seemed unfair for him to ask them to keep it from Auston, but they didn’t seem too upset about it. Alex reassured him, “Your personal life is your business and you choose who to share it with. It’s not our job to tell anyone else personal information you’ve trusted us with.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which Bre agreed with adamantly. She followed it up with, “So do you like someone else?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They knew so much about him, maybe as much as Auston did, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for them to know about his crush. It seemed too new, too fragile, and they were definitely too close. So after Alex scolded Bre for prying, he told them, “Yeah, but I don’t think I’m really ready to address it head on.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s fine, Mitch,” Bre responded, voice soft, “but if you ever need to talk, don’t forget we’re here for you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which was kind of easy to forget sometimes. Most of the girl friends he had were friends of Steph’s, and Mitch knew if it came down to it, he was still ranked below Auston to them, obviously. He hoped it never came down to it. Another reason he was scared to tell Auston, losing Alex and Bre would </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ironically, Bre was the one to get him into TikTok. She sent him a bunch over text until one day she called him just to bother him into making an account. He truly was at that whole family’s mercy because he caved immediately. TikTok was something he grew to enjoy, something he’d stay up till 3 in the morning scrolling through just out of loneliness and lack of better things to do. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t get the hate, the stuff he saw was so funny, and thanks to Bre, he rarely saw any of the dancing his brother talked about. One night during a phone call, he mentioned it, and Bre scoffed, “I did all the heavy lifting for you, Mitch. You didn’t even have to work that hard to get off straight TikTok.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, so he filed it away to look up later and let her voice wash over him as she talked about her classes for the semester. It was comfortable and familiar. After about 30 minutes, she reluctantly let him go, “I have to call Auston tonight, he’s bitching about us not talking as much.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch laughed and said his goodbyes, going straight back to TikTok. That was the night he got his first thirst trap. Enthralled, he let it play over and over, a little shocked the app didn’t have limitations against that kind of content. He wasn’t sure why it was so fascinating until he realized the guy looked a little like Auston.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh fuck,” he muttered, closing the app. That was enough for one night. But an hour later he opened it back up, followed the guy, and closed it again, vowing to himself to not think about it again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It didn’t work, especially once he found out Auston also had an account. He panicked for a split second, wondering if it was the guy posting thirst traps, but later that night, scrolling through Bre’s followers, he found Auston’s account and followed him immediately. Mitch sent a few teasing messages before getting in bed, happy for some reason he couldn’t quite explain.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bre called him a few days later, on a night they normally didn’t talk, and didn’t even say hello. Started right in with an accusation, “You found Auston on TikTok.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch’s jaw dropped and his cheeks heated up. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was embarrassed, but after not answering for a few seconds, Bre switched the call to FaceTime, and he accepted it, greeted with her shit eating grin when the call connected.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I did,” he admitted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She cooed, “How cute. He’s been sending me TikToks.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh?” Mitch’s heart pounded, he tried to calm it down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yep,” she popped the p, “he also got </span>
  <em>
    <span>super</span>
  </em>
  <span> jealous when I informed him you send me TikToks too.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-” he cut himself off, “you’re lying to me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope. But this is good news, right? It means he might like you back!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch groaned, “Telling you and Alex was a bad fucking idea. You’re reading into this too much, I promise. Auston always gets super jealous over me, it’s just a friend thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bre went silent and after a few beats, Mitch looked back at his phone from where he’d been watching his hand tug at the string on his shorts. She had a funny look on her face, and before he could ask what was happening, she rolled her eyes, “That is so not a friend thing, Mitchell. I’ve never seen him get jealous over a </span>
  <em>
    <span>friend</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It is,” Mitch defended weakly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not. Now hush, I’m trying to come up with a plan for you to win him over since I know you’re stubborn and won’t just tell him how you feel.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course I won’t, I know it’s not reciprocated.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Big word,” she answered, “but I did say hush.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So Mitch did as she asked, not really wanting to make the youngest Matthews sibling mad. They sat in silence while she thought, eyes trained on the ceiling above her, and Mitch waited with bated breath. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know what genius idea she managed to concoct.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” she finally said, startling him out of his half asleep daze, “you’re going to send him messages so blatant, even my oblivious brother can figure it out.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I should probably come out to him first,” Mitch mused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bre pinched the bridge of her nose, “You haven’t told him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um, no.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fucking hopeless both of you. Okay, you come out at your own pace, but we can lay some groundwork in the meantime. You need to tell the team to follow you on Tiktok, it’ll activate that jealousy and hopefully make him think. Then you need to send him some targeted videos about friends getting together or something. We can keep a lookout for something good.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can do that,” Mitch told her confidently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I hope so,” she teased, “it’s not that hard.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thus began operation ‘try and figure out if Auston actually watches the videos Mitch sends him’. It all was going well, Auston snorted at all of his references. Even the one when he finally came out, though that situation was a bit of a disaster in itself. The broken glass instead of a love confession was a bit disappointing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was hoping it would at least prompt him to open up about his own sexuality,” Mitch complained during his weekly phone call with Bre. She just laughed at him which didn’t make him feel any better.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few weeks later, “I’ll never snitch on you, daddy,” fell out of Mitch’s mouth. He saw Auston’s jaw drop and he tripped over nothing in the middle of the floor. Mitch immediately wanted to crawl into a hole because </span>
  <em>
    <span>what the fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span> but he fought hard to keep an unphased facade. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It took a few seconds, but Auston finally gathered himself enough to sit on the couch, moving Mitch’s feet out of his way before letting Mitch’s legs drape over his lap. Mitch relaxed further, clearly he didn’t ruin anything with his slip, and set his phone down as Auston pulled up Netflix to continue Peaky Blinders.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he finally left later that night, Auston jokingly called out after him, “What, no bye daddy?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch wanted to throw up everywhere, but instead, he turned around, flipped Auston off, and responded, “Goodnight, daddy. See you tomorrow.” It was the look on Auston’s face that made the cringe worth it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You called him </span>
  <em>
    <span>what</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Bre yelped on their next phone call. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know,” Mitch groaned, “I’ve been cringing about it for over a week.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She laughed long and loud, “God, that is one of the most on brand things I’ve ever heard.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch pouted, “Rude.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The electric love trend was actually Alex’s idea. She found the first video after Bre finally filled her in on the whole situation, and they were on speaker phone when he sent the first one to Auston. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And now, we wait,” he told them, hands shaking a bit as he navigated back to the FaceTime screen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is going to be awesome,” Alex gushed in an uncharacteristic show of giddiness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Except it wasn’t awesome. Auston never once mentioned it even though Mitch was pretty sure, based on his references tests, that Auston watched all the videos Mitch sent him. So, he upped the ante and sent at least one a day for a week, and it did work when Auston called him out about Steph. Mitch almost slammed his head into a wall, he’d forgotten to tell anyone, so he told Auston, and to his utter disappointment, Auston never brought it up again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Willy was surprisingly the one who confronted him first about the obvious grey cloud constantly hanging over his head. Sidling up to Mitch in the locker room after practice one afternoon, Willy nudged him gently, “Hey, want to get lunch?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch just wanted to sleep, “No.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Too bad,” Willy told him, smiling brightly, “we’ll go to my place, I want to try out one of the recipes I sent you on TikTok last week.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch knew for a fact Willy barely cooked, and when he checked the fridge at Willy’s apartment, he noticed there were very specific ingredients, likely for the one dish Willy wanted to try. Pulling open the produce drawer, he gave Willy a look, “Why the hell do you have so many tomatoes?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mitchy, do you not watch the TikToks I send you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I watch most of them,” Mitch admitted, “sometimes you send a lot and I get overwhelmed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Waving his hand, Willy dismissed his words, “No worries. We’re making pasta with feta and tomatoes. I have some chicken too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch stared down at the recipe on his phone and read out the steps for Willy before helping him get everything in the baking tray. They worked in relative silence, Willy crunching down on one of the leftover tomatoes, and Mitch shoved it in the oven while Willy dug out a skillet to start cooking the chicken.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So,” Willy started after turning the eye on under the chicken, “what’s going on with you and Matts?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um, what?” Mitch stuttered, almost dropping the box of pasta in his hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You two have been weird lately. I just want to know if something happened.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch sighed and stared down at the counter for a few seconds before looking back up at Willy, “Nothing’s happened. That’s the problem.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Willy could answer, there was a knock at his door and he nodded toward it, “Marns, do me a solid and let Zach in.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh my god, you two are parenting me. I can’t believe I’m getting parented by William Nylander.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The door, Mitchy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zach was standing in the hallway, one hand shoved in his pocket and the other holding a bottle of wine. He pulled Mitch into a hug before backing away and ruffling his hair, “Mitch, how are you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not a child, believe it or not.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I believe it, I’m just worried. I don’t want to see my road roommate looking so sad.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With a small laugh, Mitch shrugged and followed him into the kitchen so Willy could hear before he started to explain, “I don’t know, I guess it was easier to deal with when I wasn’t sending pretty blatant hints. Auston has never shown any sort of interest in me that way and I let his sisters get my hopes up and it just sucks.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, first of all, Marns,” Zach rubbed his back, “Auston has never known you when you were single. Even if he was interested, I highly doubt he’d do anything to harm your relationship or fuck up your happiness.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Willy nodded eagerly, “Right, and now you have the opportunity to </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> woo him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t want to woo him,” Mitch complained, “I just want him to read between the lines and kiss me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zach squeezed his shoulder, “I hate to break it to you buddy, but the day Auston can take a hint is the day the Senators are a good hockey team.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zach, brutal,” Willy crowed, “but he’s right. Auston is dumb, which means you’re either going to have to tell him or you’re going to have to annoy him until he explodes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mitch wasn’t sure what his face was doing, but Zach sighed, “No, Marns, you can’t actually do that.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“I think that I can, and I think that’s the best plan.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Willy dumped the pasta in the boiling water he’d set up while Mitch went to answer the door, and shook his head, “I’m not teaching you how to cook to woo your man just so you can bait him into making a move.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zach snorted and Mitch smiled sheepishly, “I do need to learn how to cook more, it’s the only thing holding me back from being total husband material.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The only person doing any cooking here is Willy,” Zach pointed out before dragging Mitch over to the stove, “and of the three of us, I’m the only one who </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually</span>
  </em>
  <span> knows what they’re doing. Neither of you set an alarm for the stuff in the oven and Willy the chicken you’re about to take off the heat isn’t cooked.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Willy beamed at Zach and held the spoon out, “Show us how it’s done, Zachy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you just invite me over to cook for you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, Mitch needed father son time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Arguably, John is my dad.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Willy stuck his tongue out, “Arguably no.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Children,” Zach chided, “pay attention, I don’t want to repeat anything.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Despite the pep talk Zach and Willy gave him that night, Mitch still didn’t really have the confidence to actually say anything, so he kept it up. But it took its toll and Mitch grew more hopeless by the day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you okay, Mitch?” Bre asked one night on FaceTime.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He smiled at her, but it felt smaller than usual, “Yeah, just tired.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Made any progress with my dumb brother?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Definitely no.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She gave him an appraising look and chewed on her lip while she considered what to say, “I think you should just make a move.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you promise if I do I won’t fuck things up permanently?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I promise,” she answered with no hesitation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” Mitch told her shakily, “then I’ll do it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He kind of did it. It wasn’t something he fully planned out when he woke up because he just didn’t have the energy to after tossing and turning all night. Willy was the only person to actually ask if he was okay, catching Mitch right before he left the showers with a quiet, “It’ll be okay, you’ve got this, Marns.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When they got to the car it was like something took over his body. Mitch slapped Auston’s hand away and in a weird moment of either complete bravery or stupidity, he started playing Electric Love. To his shock, it actually worked, and at Auston’s questioning, he shrugged, “It’s like modern hieroglyphics. I send videos with no explanation and you figure out what I mean.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He drove to their favorite Greek takeout place and Auston called in the order on the way, music playing softly in the background, and when he parked for Auston to run in and pay, Mitch glanced down at his phone where a few texts from Willy were waiting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>MARNS I SEE YOU!!!!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>oh my god i can’t wait to tell zach</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>zach said congrats</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You good?” Auston asked when he got back in the car and caught Mitch staring down at his phone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never better.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rolling his eyes at the sappy answer, Auston reached across the console to pull Mitch into another kiss.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>i'm also on <a href="https://bitchell-marner.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> if you wanna come chat</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>deleted scenes include:<br/>-mitch calling auston's sister for advice multiple times<br/>-the cooking date<br/>-willy being the first to know because he was still at the arena when they kissed for the first time<br/>-mitch cringing for hours after the "i'll never snitch on you daddy" incident</p></blockquote></div></div>
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